Halloween 4 is a 2016 horror film, the third sequel to Halloween 3D after Halloween 2 and Halloween 3. The film was again directed by Patrick Lussier, who directed this film's predecessor, and stars Joey King, Elizabeth Gillies and Tom Hardy. It was followed by Halloween 5.

Contents

Plot

The film begins with a recap of the end of the previous film, where Michael Myers (Tom Hardy) falls down a mine shaft and is seemingly buried alive. In reality, he crawls out and falls into a river, eventually managing to climb out and enter the abandoned sewer system. He uses the tunnels to get back to his childhood home, the Myers house.

At the same time, Jamie Wallace (Joey King) uses a scissors to stab her mother to death in their home. She is apprehended by police chief Ben Meeker (Michael Ironside) and made a patient of the Haddonfield Children's Clinic.

One year later, two days before Halloween, a new doctor arrives at the clinic; Dan Challis (Chris Evans), who takes a special interest in Jamie. Challis meets Jamie's older sister, Lindsay Wallace (Dani Thorne) and her friend Tina Williams (Elizabeth Gillies). Lindsay reveals that she is going away for the Halloween weekend, leaving Jamie in Tina's care. Tina brings Jamie a princess outfit so that she can take part in the upcoming fancy dress contest at the clinic.

That night, Jamie has a dream which is actually a recurring nightmare she is having; she sees Michael coming after her. Meanwhile, Michael puts his decaying mask on and leaves his house for the first time in a year to kill again.

On Halloween morning, Lindsay meets Marion Chambers (Krysten Ritter), the assistant of Michael's original doctor, Sam Loomis (Idris Elba). Chambers was contacted by a concerned nurse about Jamie's dreams, much to Challis' dismay. Lindsay goes home to get ready for the weekend, saying farewell to Tina who heads off to meet up with her boyfriend Tim (Matt Lanter), his friend Spitz (Kellan Lutz) and his girlfriend Samantha (Taylor Momsen). Lindsay takes a shower, while Michael enters the house. He kills Lindsay by stabbing her in the neck with a scissors. Jamie is thrown into convulsions, but is calmed by Chambers.

Jamie is unable to tell what happened, but knows Michael has returned. Chambers notes Challis' odd reaction to the news and then begs Jamie to tell her where Michael is. However, she replies that she does not know. Chambers decides to keep watch over Jamie for the night. But first, she heads over to the police station to tell Meeker that Michael is alive, but he does not wish to be reminded of the painful memory (Michael killed his daughter Kelly (Ashley Tisdale) one year previous).

Tina and her friends are planning to go to a Halloween party at Tower Farm that night, and make arrangements to meet there. Spitz and Sam will go ahead, while Tim will pick Tina up. After parting ways, Tim is left alone cleaning his car in his garage. Michael enters and splits his head open with a tire iron.

That night, Michael picks up Tina wearing a mask she had bought for Tim, so she mistakes him for Tim and he drives her to Tower Farm. Jamie begins to sense that Tina is in danger and convinces another patient, a boy named Billy, to cause a distraction during the masquerade and allow her to escape. Challis and Chambers set out to try and find her.

While Tina enjoys the party, Spitz and Sam sneak into the barn to have sex. Michael watches before impaling Spitz with a pitchfork. Sam tries to escape, but Michael chases her and corners her. Sam begs for her life, but Michael decapitates her with a scythe. Tina then comes over to the barn looking for her friends, only to find Spitz' body suspended from the ceiling. She runs outside and Michael tries to run her down with Tim's car. The other party goers come outside to see what the fuss is about and Michael drives straight through them.

Tina retreats into the nearby woods and finds Jamie. Michael arrives and tries to run them down, but instead crashes and collides with a tree. Tina is momentarily relieved, but Jamie is not so sure. Michael then punches through the wind shield and crawls out of the wreckage, advancing towards Jamie. Tina shouts at Michael to save Jamie. Michael picks Tina by the neck, pins her to a tree, and stabs her. This affords Jamie time to escape and she runs into Chambers, who has arrived with the police. She and Jamie hatch a plan in conjunction with the police to lure Michael into a trap.

Jamie is taken to the Myers house, where she sits in the room where Michael killed his sister Judith (Bryce Dallas Howard) many years before. The police lie in wait outside the house, hoping to gun Michael down when he arrives. However, Michael enters the house via the tunnel system beneath the house and encounters Challis, who reveals that he is a "great fan" of Michael's "work" and is an occultist. Challis explains that he believes Michael to be the Devil himself and wishes to serve him, revealing a tattoo of a pentagram he has. He then offers to bring Jamie to him, but when he reaches to take Michael's knife, the killer slashes him across the stomach and rams his head through a glass pane, killing him.

Michael then comes after Jamie, killing the police officers in the room with her. However, they managed to hold Michael off long enough for Jamie to make a run for it. Michael pursues her and a tense chase ensues throughout the house, during which a lit candle in knocked over and the house catches fire. Meeker decides to go in and save Jamie himself, accompanied by Chambers. She manages to rescue Jamie, but Michael corners them and lifts his knife. Before he can kill them, Meeker wraps some chains around Michael and pulls him down with him into the flames, telling Michael "this one's for my daughter." Jamie and Chambers then escape as the Myers house burns to the ground.

The film ends with Jamie being put in an ambulance and driven away from the smoking Myers house (which mirrors the end of Halloween 2) as Chambers surveys the destruction and says "burn in Hell, Michael." Later, a CSI team arrives at the house and one female investigator discovers the tunnel beneath the house. As she peers into the darkness, Michael pops up and grabs hold of her as the film ends.

Cast

Joey King - Jamie Wallace

Dani Thorne - Lindsay Wallace

Bella Thorne - Lindsay Wallace (Young)

Krysten Ritter - Marion Chambers

Chris Evans - Dan Challis

Michael Ironside - Ben Meeker

Ashley Tisdale - Kelly Meeker

Elizabeth Gillies - Tina Williams

Matt Lanter - Tim Haines

Kellan Lutz - Spitz

Taylor Momsen - Samantha Thomas

Idris Elba - Sam Loomis

Emma Stone - Laurie Strode

Armie Hammer - Jimmy Lloyd

Tom Hardy - Michael Myers

Ty Simpkins - Michael Myers (Young)

Deaths

Lindsay Wallace - Stabbed in the throat with scissors

Tim Haines - Bludgeoned with tire iron

Spitz - Impaled with pitchfork

Samantha Thomas - Decapitated with scythe

Tina Williams - Stabbed and pinned to tree

Dan Challis - Stabbed and head smashed through glass

Nick Ross - Head crushed

Tom Farrah - Hung by the neck from window

Ben Meeker - Falls into fire and burns to death

Production

Development

Halloween 4 was left open for a sequel. The script was again written by Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer, with Lussier also returning to direct. Once again, the basic story was based on the 1989 film Halloween 5 but some key elements were changed in keeping with the new continuity.

One of the greatest criticisms of the first Halloween 5 was that the potential for a story centered on Jamie as the killer was squandered in favour of focusing on Michael Myers. While Lussier and Farmer still wanted to keep Michael as part of the story, they decided to add some wight to the idea of Jamie following the same path Michael had when he was the same age.

In the first two films, Michael is searching for his long lost sister Laurie Strode. After he is left comatose due to a fire, Michael is incaracerated in Ridgemont while Laurie and her boyfriend Jimmy Lloyd are seemingly killed in a car wreck (it is revealed in the subsequent sequel that they faked their deaths). In Halloween 3, Michael again escapes and returns home, but with no specific target. Filled with rage, he goes on an indiscriminate, murderous rampage, and Jamie is among his intended victims. At the end of the film, while he is unconcious on the ground, Jamie touches Michael's hand and creates a psychic link between the two. As a result, she stabs her mother to death with a scissors.

In Halloween 4 Michael returns, this time to find Jamie. Throughout the film she must deal with the weight of their psychic connection; she is able to feel it when Michael kills. Several times she is tempted to become just like him, but at the end of the film finally breaks loose from his grip and is able to move on toward something of a normal life. In the next film, it is revealed that Jamie's identity was changed to Rachel Carruthers and she moved out of Haddonfield.

Casting

A number of actors reprise their roles from Halloween 4. Joey King, Dani Thorne, Tom Hardy, Michael Ironside and Ashley Tisdale all make an appearance. Once again, stock footage of actors such as Emma Stone, Armie Hammer, Idris Elba and Ty Simpkins is also used. Krysten Ritter, who appeared in the first two films, reprises her role as Marion Chambers, a nurse and assistant to the late Sam Loomis, who takes Jamie's case.

Newcomers include Elizabeth Gillies as Lindsay's best friend Tina Williams, Matt Lanter as her boyfriend Tim Haines, Taylor Momsen as their other friend Samantha Thomas, Kellan Lutz as her boyfriend Spitz, and Chris Evans as Dr Dan Challis, who takes over the Haddonfield Children's Clinic and has a vested interest in Jamie's case. He is later revealed to be an occultist who wants to team up with Michael, only to be slaughtered for his trouble.

This is the final appearance of Joey King, Dani Thorne and Michael Ironside in the series outside of stock footage. Thorne and Ironside's characters both die in the film, but King survives and gets away. Thorne's role of Lindsay Wallace originated in the first film and is the only character other than Michael to appear in the first four films without the use of stock footage (although played by two different actresses).

Music

This is the first Halloween film in the reboot series to not be scored by Steve Jablonsky, who wanted to move onto other projects. He was replaced by Christopher Drake, who also scored the second, third and fourth installments of the Friday the 13th reboot series. Drake's score was a mix of original music and Jablonsky's cue, as he felt that Jablonsky had left his mark on the series.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Many critics and fans consider it to be the weakest of the reboot series, but the general consensus is that it's still a good film. The film also grossed the least of the series, but was still a box office win. This led to Lussier and Farmer's decision to finish their story in Halloween 5.